Carbon Footprint

Complete management of your carbon footprinting, to international standards.

From the position as the UK's leading GHG verifier, CICS is now using the same expert verifiers and rigorous auditing principles used in the regulated market (EUETS, Climate Change Levy, CRC) to measure and verify carbon footprints and GHG inventories.

Why perform a carbon footprint verification?

Companies and organisations are increasingly required to measure the emissions of the organisation as a whole, its individual processes and even its specific products and services. Furthermore, there is a growing demand to measure a carbon footprint as part of an overall CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) or sustainability strategy.

In addition to providing an excellent way of managing carbon emissions (and, correspondingly, energy use) an accurate carbon footprint provides useful information to shareholders, clients, NGOs and the general public.

Carbon footprint statements are an important component of annual reports and company statements. A verified carbon footprint provides the backbone for carbon offset schemes, which in turn provide a route to "carbon neutral" status.

What is a carbon footprint?

A carbon footprint is "the total greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organisation, event or product".

A quantified corporate carbon footprint is made up of some or all of the following:

• Direct activities (fuels burnt, transport, process gas).
• Indirect activities (electricity).
• Supply chain (distribution, raw material manufacture, consumer use, disposal).

What standards and protocols are used for carbon footprinting?

CICS carbon footprinting consultants work to the international carbon footprinting standards ISO 14064 (Part 1) and the WRI / WBCSD GHG Protocol (World Resource Initiative/World Business Council for Sustainable Development).

These standards provide a transparent and uniform platform for the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from products and services.

New standards are also emerging, such as PAS 2050, for the assessment of a product or service's full supply chain and lifecycle carbon footprint. CICS have been invited onto the PAS 2050 pilot scheme for verification to this standard.

• Complete management of the carbon footprinting exercise, from definition of credible scope and boundaries to compilation of calculation spreadsheets and verification of emissions back to source data.
• Third party verification of a carbon footprint assessment made by an organisation.
• Advice on emission factors and uncertainty levels in reported data.
• Guidance on annual reporting to comply with ISO 14064 Part 1 and the WRI/WBCSD GHG Protocol.
• Advice on carbon reduction strategies and using credible offsetting.
• Understanding green energy tariffs and related issues.